Filling spout



lMay l2, 1.942. R. E. Rost-:NTHAL ET ALY 2,283,093

FILLING SPOUT Filed Nov. 18, 1940 lPatented May 12, 1942 t FILLING SPOUT Robert E. Rosenthal, George L. SterneId, and

Vincent J. Peddle, Chicago, Ill.,assignors t0A Continental Foods, Inc.

poration of Illinois Chicago, Ill., aV cor- Application November 18, 1940, Serial No. 366,150

11 claims.

Our invention relates to filling spouts for ma terials and especially devices which are designed to carry materials of various sorts from a bin, hopper or suitable receptacle to small containers which after beingl filled are individually sealed and packed for shipment.

Among the objects of our invention is to provide a new and improved filling spout so constructed that the materials which pass through it l are deposited directly into the bottom of the container in a manner which prohibits them from coming into contact with the open end thereof.

Another object of our invention is to provide a new and improved filling spout device of a sort which is adapted to be used with pasty or greasy materials so designed that the pasteA or greasy material may be deposited directly into the bottom of the bag and be prevented from contacting any portion of the open end of the container or any part ofthe iilling spout which might directly engage the end of the container, thereby to make sure that the sealing end will always remain clean and dry.

Still another object of our invention is to. pro.- vide a new and improved filling spout which is especially adapted to partially ll flexible or col-- lapsible containers such as bags wherein the material deposited in the bag is spread at a uniform level at the bottom in such a manner that it does not squeeze around the open end of the spout so that the spout will not collect material on the outside and permit it to rub oif or come into contact with the open end of the container.

A further objectis to provide a new and improved filling spout device which has an `adjustable contact element to which the container to be filled is applied, serving to protect the open end of the container from contact with the material filling it, there being also provided adjusting devices for fixing the contact element at a suitable initial position and likewise for providing stops for a feeding position at various points along the spout enabling the device to operate satisfactory with containers or bags of various depths. Y

It is also contemplated as among the objects to provide a ange for the contact element suitable for limiting the position of the container with respect to the contact element and also to provide for manually shifting or lifting the element by a mere endwise movement of the hand without it being necessary for the operator to grasp or squeeze the container in order to hold it while it is being shifted from one position to another.

Y With these and other objects in View, our invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various'parts of our device whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in our claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is an'elevational View of the filling spout device showing a container to be filled in its initial position.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional View of the device drawn to a larger scale showing the container in its position occupied when the feeding or filling operation takes place.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view on the line 3 3 of Figure`2.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional viewsimilar to Figure v3 of a modied form of the device.

While it is old in the art to provide filling spouts for dispensing materials of various kinds from a hopper into a container of onesort or another, such devices have had only the problem of depositing the material into the container and shutting off the flow at a suitable time. Such containers have frequently been of the tin'can type where it has been unnecessary to guard the top of the' container from contact with the contents deposited into it, or, where filling spouts have been used with flexible bags, for example, their purpose has been primarily to ll the bag with relatively dry material without it being necessary to guard the neck or openv end of the bag from contact with the contents.

The invention herein described deals primarily with the dispensing of substances of a particular sort such as pastes, and greases, and placing them in a bag in such a manner that they do not contactor wet the open end. Bags or containers of a special sort may be provided designed to be sealed suiiiciently tight so that there is absolutely no leakage of air atthe end thus closed, tight sealing beingy made necessary by reason of the fact that the contents are frequently of an edible sort and perishable when permitted to come into contact with air. For .this reason it is highly essential that the mouth of the container be kept perfectly dry during the filling operation..

In the device chosen to illustrate our invention there is provided a conventional hopper or receptacle I 0 designed to hold the material to be fed. The actual manner of feeding the material from the hopper is immaterial since any of the accepted methods such an auger feed, gravity feed or pressure Afeed are suitable.

The hopper l0 has a lower outer portion I2 and a spout I4 is securely positioned therein. The spout I4 has a passage I6 which communicates with the interior I8 of the hopper. Surrounding the spout is a guard which has a base portion 22 in which is a central opening 24 slightly larger than the outside diameter of the spout I4 so that there is a free sliding fit between them. The lower portion of the guard is formed by a skirt 26 which provides an annular space 28 surrounding the spout.

At the lower end of the spout is a collar 30 serving as a stop element and in the collar is a set screw 32 which permits the collar to be secured to the spout in a plurality of -positions adjacent the bottom. The spout of course is provided with an opening or orifice 34 at the bottom end through which the material dispensed passes outwardly.

Likewise on the upper portion of the spout there is a second collar 36 providing a stop element for the guard at an upper position. This collar is similarly provided with a set screw 38 which enables it to be secured to the spout in a plurality of upper positions.

In addition to the body portion and skirt the guard may be provided with an annular flange 40 extending in a substantially horizontal direction outward therefrom some distance beyond the outer circumference of the guard itself.

As shown the filling spout device is shown in operation with a flexible bag or container 42 sealed at the sides 44 and the bottom 46 and having an open upper end 48. As shown, the bag is of a flexible sort which can be spread open at the upper end to any shape.

The shape of the guard is shown best in Figure 3 where the skirt 26 is made in a circular form. Where conditions warrant, however, and for convenience under certain circumstances a guard may be provided with a skirt 26' having an elongated or elliptical form in cross-section, in order that the open end of the bag need not be spread to quite such a great extent, as shown in Figure 4.

In operation, the guard has a lower or initial position 20 shown by the dotted lines in Figure 1. In this initia1 position the base portion of the guard is in contact with the collar 36 which holds it in place. The skirt 26 extends over the collar and beyond the open end 34 of the spout I4. In this position the open end 48 of the lbag is spread around the outer circumference of the collar and raised to the position there shown in contact with the lower face of the flange 40. Then the operator lifts the guard accompanied by the'bag by either grasping the guard or by lifting with the fingers against the underside of the flange, moving the flange to the uppermost position shown by the full lines in Figure 2. This position is determined by the guard coming into contact with the bottom edge of the collar 36. It will be noted that in this position the orifice 34 of the spout is spaced from the bottom of the bag.

' When the bag occupies such a feeding or filling position the material to be deposited into it is forced out of the hopper and through the spout I4 by some conventional agency until material indicated by the character 50 iills the bottom of the bag up to a level approximately even with the lower end of the spout. At this point the feeding is stopped and the guard 20 together with the bag is lowered again from the upper position to the dotted position shown in Figure 2.

At this point the bag is removed and another empty bag applied. It will be noted that upon descending the skirt portion of the guard surrounds the open end of the spout to which the lling substance may have adhered covering the end and permitting the bag to be withdrawn so that the open end remains perfectly dry. Since the skirt remains covering the end of the spout empty containers or bags may be applied to the outside without fear of wetting them or bringing them into contact with any material which might be present at the end of the spout. m

It will thus be apparent that any number of repeated filling operations may be performed without there being any likelihood of spoiling the seal of the bags by having the open ends which are to be sealed come into contact with the contents.

It will further become apparent that the lower collar 30' may be adjusted in order to extend the skirt any desired distance beyond the end of the spout so that protection from contact with the material may be assured. The collar is further adjustable upwardly so as to minimize the drop of the guard in case it is not necessary to extend the skirt a greater distance beyond the end of the spout.

When bags of different lengths are to be used, the upper collar 36 may be moved upwardly or downwardly along the spout in order to fix the upper limit of travel of the guard at such a point that the lower end of the spout will be spaced from the bottom of the bag a distance substantially equal to the depth to which the material is filled within it. This adjustable feature likewise takes care of circumstances where bags of uniform size are to be filled to a greater or lesser depth than might be originally plannel.

By the structure herein described, the applicant has provided a form of his invention which successfully permits quick and positive filling of flexible containers to a predetermined depth without there being any likelihood that the contents deposited in the container will smear or wet the open end of a container which is afterward to be sealed air-tight.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of our device without departing from the real spirit and purpose of our invention, and it is our intention to cover by our claims any modified forms of structure, or use of mechanical equivalents, which may be reasonably included .within their scope.

We claim as our invention:

1. A feeding spout device for feeding material into an opencontainercomprising a spouthaving a passage therethrough for said material and an orifice at the end, a guard around the spout including a portion having a free sliding fit thereon and a skirt, said guard having an initial position and a feeding position, and a stop element on the spout having a shoulder in contact with a portion of the guard at the initial position wherein said skirt is positioned -around and below said orifice, said guard having a size smaller than the open end of the container adapted to be surrounded thereby at initial position and shifted together with the container to said feeding position wherein the .bottom of the container is spaced from the orifice and the skirt is moved from its position around and below the orifice.

Y2. A filling spout device for partially filling an open flexible container with material comprising an elongated spout having a passage therethrough for material and an orifice at the end, a guard surrounding the spout Vincluding a base portion having a free sliding fit thereon and a skirt, said guard having an initial position and a filling position and a stop element on the spout having a shoulder in contact with the base portion of the guard in said .initial position wherein the skirt extends around and below said orifice, said guard having a size smaller than the opening of said container and adapted to be surrounded by the neck thereof at initial position and being shiftable to lsaid filling position wherein the bottom of the container is spaced a predetermined distance from the orifice when material is being fed into said container and the skirt is moved from its position around and below the orifice. d

3. A feeding spout device for feeding material into an open container comprising a spout having a passage therethrough communicating at one end with a supply of the material and at the other end with said container, a guard having a portion thereof surrounding the spout with a freely sliding lit and another portion thereof extending therefrom in the form of a depending skirt, said skirt having walls forming a space substantially greater in size than the outside of the spout, a stop element on the spout having contact with the guard at an initial position thereof wherein the skirt of said guard surrounds` and extends beyond said other end of the spout, and a second stop element positioned at the opposite end of the spout in the line of travel for said guard having contact therewith at the position occupied during a feeding operation.

4. A feeding device for feeding material into an open container comprising a spout having a passage therethrough communicating at one end with a supply of the material and at the other end with the container, a guard having one portion thereof surrounding the spout with a freely sliding fit and another portion extending below and spaced from the other end of the spout in normal position, a stop element having a vertically adjustable connection to the spout having a contact with the guard at an initial position thereof, and a second stop element positioned at the opposite end of the spout in the line of travel for said guard having contact therewith at the position occupied during a feeding oper-ation.

5. A feeding spout device for feeding material into an open container comprising a spout having a passage therethrough communicating at one end with a supply of the material and at the other end with said container, a guard having a portion thereof siurrounding the spout with a freely sliding fit and another portion thereof extending therefrom in the form of a skirt having the inner wall thereof spaced a substantial distance laterally from the spout, and a stop element having a plurality of alternative vertical positions on the spout spaced one from another, said guard having contact with the element therewith in any of said plurality of positions wherein the skirt of said guard surrounds and extends below said other end of the spout, said guard having an elevated feeding position spaced from the stop element.

6. A feeding spout device for feeding material into an open container comprising a spout having a passage therethrough communicating at one end with a supply of the material and at the other end with said container, a guard having a portion thereof surrounding the spout with a freely sliding fit and another portion thereof extending therefrom in the form of a skirt wherein the walls are substantially vertical and spaced y laterally from the spout, a stop element for the guard on the spout adjacent vsaid other `end adapted to hold said guard at an initial position wherein said skirt surrounds and extendsbeyond said other end of the spout, a second stop element for the guard spaced downwardly from the upper end of the spout releasably positioned on.

the spout at said upper end having a limiting contact with the guard at a position occupied during a feeding operation, and adjusting means on said second stop element for releasing and securing said last element to the spout, said element having a plurality of alternative different vertical positionsrto accommodate bags of different length. Y y l 7. A feeding device for feeding material into the open end of a container comprising arvertically extending spout having a passage therethrough communicating at the upper end with a supply of the material and at the lower endwith said container, a guard having a portion thereof surrounding the spout with ia freely sliding t and another portion thereof extending therefrom in the form of a skirt having a wall spaced lat-- erally from the spout, a Vstop element for the guard having an adjustable connection to the spout adjacent the lower end, said element having a plurality of alternative positions spaced vertically one from another, said guard having contact therewith at any of said plurality of positions wherein the skirt of said guard surrounds and extends beyond said lower end of the spout, and a second stop element for the guard positioned at the opposite end of the spout having contact therewith at the position occupied during a feeding operation and adjusting means on said second stop element for securing said last element to the spout, vsaid last element having a plurality of alternative positions spaced vertically one from another comprising feedingv positions to accommodate bags of different length.

8. A feeding spout device for feeding material into an open flexible container comprising a spout having a passage therethrough for said `material and an orifice at the end, a guard surrounding the spout having a kfree sliding t thereon and a skirt extending laterally from and below the orifice, a stop element on the spout having a shoulder in contact with the guard at an initial position wherein said skirt extends around and below said orifice, said guard having a size smaller than the open end of the container and positioned surrounding said container at ing a base portion having a free sliding lt thereon adapted to be alternately lifted and lowered between initial and filling positions and a skirt having an inner wall spaced laterally from and initially below the spout, a stop element on said spout for the guard having a shoulder in contact with the guard at said'initial position, said guard having a size smaller than the opening of said container and adapted to be surrounded by the neck thereof before lifting, said container into an open container comprising a spout having a passage therethrough communicating at one end with a supply of the material and at the other end with said container, a guard having one portion thereof surrounding the spout with a freely sliding fit and another portion thereof extending in the form of a skirt surrounding and spaced from the spout, a stop element having an adjustable connection to the spout and having a plurality of positions spaced vertically one from another, said guard having contact therewith at any of said plurality of positions wherein the skirt of said guard surrounds said end of the spout, a second stop element positioned at the opposite end of the spout in the line of travel for said guard having contact therewith at the position occupied during a feeding operation, and adjusting means on said second stop element for securing said last element at a plurality of alternative feeding positions spaced vertically one from another to accommodate bags of .different lengths, said guard having a ange on the end thereof opposite from the skirt extending in a substantially horizontal direction to a position overlying the walls of a flexible container applied around the guard and the fingers of an operator providing thereby a vertical positioning element for containers of various widths and a finger actuated elevating member for moving the guard to said upper position.

11. A feeding system wherein pasty material is deposited into the bottom of a container including a exible walled container open at one end, a spout having a passage therethrough communicating at one end with a source of the material and at the other end with the container, a guard having a portion thereof surrounding the spout with a freely sliding fit and another portion thereof spaced laterally from the spout in the form of a skirt having vertical walls, a stop element having an adjustable connection to the spout at one end providing a plurality of alternatively adjusted positions spaced vertically one from another, said guard having contact with the stop element at any of said several positions, and a second stop element positioned at the rst end of the spout in the line of travel for said guard having contact therewith at the position occupied during a feeding operation, adjusting means on said second stop element for determining the uppermost feeding position of the guard to accommodate bags of different lengths, said second stop element having a range of positions between one permitting substantially no movement of the guard to one permitting movement of substantially the full length of the container, said container having a feeding position with the open end surrounding the guard at the upper position thereof, and an annular flange on the guard extending in a substantially horizontal direction to a position simultaneously overlying the edges of the open end of said flexible container and the fingers of an operator providing thereby a positioning element for the container and a manually actuable lifting member for the guard.

ROBERT E. ROSENTHAL. VINCENT J. PEDDLE. GEORGE L. STERNFIELD. 

